Destination unknown: An exploratory study of full-time faculty off the tenure track

The source of data in this study is the 1989 National Survey of Faculty by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.     

Human resource development in the agriculture sector: three levels of need

This paper defines human resource development (HRD) as a functional process that involves learning interventions which are both determined by and have implications for public policy, public and private sector institutions, and the HRD specialists operating within the institutions that seek to implement these interventions. HRD is considered a force for optimizing human growth, organizational effectiveness, and national development through skills enhancement in the workforce. The agricultural workforce is broadly divided into four major segments, and these are related to three arenas of educational activity: in‐service training and development, non‐formal extension and extension‐type educational programmes, and school curricula. Following the definitions section, the paper takes up the question of basic needs of HRD in the agriculture sector (HRD/AG) at the policy, institutional and operational levels. Finally, there is a brief review of the global forces, both exogenous and endogenous, affecting HRD/AG. The conclusion calls for carefully diagnosed, systematically implemented HRD/AG policies to ensure for the development of profitable agriculture in a clean environment.     

A Content Comparison of Literacy Lessons from 2004 and 2010 for Students with Moderate and Severe Intellectual Disability

Mandates such as No Child Left Behind (2001) No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 115 Stat.1425 (2002). [Google Scholar] and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, 20 U.S.C. §1400, H. R. 1350. [Google Scholar] shifted the emphasis of instruction to include skills that access the general curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability. The purpose of this study was to describe changes in literacy instruction of teachers who participated in literacy research using secondary data analysis of instructional videos from 2004 to 2010. Results from the study suggest that teachers in 2004 focused on fewer components of reading that did not include phonemic awareness or phonics than teachers in 2010. Other changes in instruction included use of systematic instruction, grade-appropriate materials, and structure of literacy lessons.     

Estudio del proceso de clasificación: ¿Concepción digital o analógica?

Resumen

El autor después de exponer los dos modelos (analógico y digital) que los psicólogos han empleado hasta hoy para describir el proceso de clasificación, propone desde un punto de vista genético una crítica de dicha alternativa.

Para explicar el fenómeno de la clasificación, los psicólogos han propuesto dos modelos: el digital (según el cual pertenecer a una clase es cuestión de todo o nada) y el analógico (que explica la formación de las clases en torno a un prototipo). Sin embargo, la Psicología Genética argumenta que para los niños los prototipos serán diferentes a edades diferentes; para un mismo sujeto el prototipo podría variar según el contexto y los objetivos de la clasificación. Para el enfoque genético ambas concepciones no deben ser consideradas como excluyentes o incompatibles. A partir de los seis años de edad, ambas pueden ser adecuadas para describir las relaciones de semejanza entre objetos, ya que los niños o bien optan por una u otra manera o escogen ambas.     

Un programa para la enseñanza de la comprensión de ideas principales de textos expositivos

Resumen

Este artículo presenta una investigación llevada a cabo con niños de 5.° curso de EG B (11 años) los cuales fueron instruidos en la captación de ideas prinápales de textos expositivos con estructura enumerativa y comparativa, y en la formation de la macroestructura textual. Un grupo de niños de un colegio fueron entrenados con una metodología de instrucción directa mientras otro grupo equivalente de un centro distinto sirvió como grupo de control. Se tomaron tres tipos de medidas dependientes tras la lectura de diversos textos con un diseño pretest- postest incluyendo cada uno de ellos varias pruebas. El primer tipo de medidas se refería a la captación de ideas prinápales mientras el segundo y el tercero medían la conáencia de estructura textual y el recuerdo respectivamente. Los resultados mostraron una ejecución significativamente mejor del grupo experimental en el postest con respecto al grupo control en la mayor parte de las medidas dependientes. Tras un período de seguimiento de varios meses se aplicaron de nuevo algunas pruebas manteniéndose las mejoras del grupo experimental.     

Restructuring agricultural extension in the Arab republic of Egypt

Abstract

This paper reviews and recommends strategies for restructuring Egypt's extension policy, organization and delivery. Egypt's extension system is examined with a view to suggesting ways to strengthen its development to meet the accelerating challenges of the global market, high-intensive skill technologies, and the growing demand for organizational efficiencies. The paper is organized into eight sections: strategies for strengthening agricultural extension in Egypt; a critical assessment of the current situation, and a review and recommendations regarding; policy; organizational management; extension linkages; farmer participation in extension program development; the promotion of farmer association, and provides a detailed schema for advancing extension's; field methodology.     

Communication Skills,Social Support,and Burnout among Advocates in a Domestic Violence Agency

Intimate partner violence affects millions of lives annually. Domestic violence advocates work to alleviate this problem; yet the nature of the work leaves them vulnerable to negative outcomes such as burnout. This study examined the relationships between communication anxiety, communication competence, perceived social support, and feelings of burnout among domestic violence advocates. Results from a survey of 69 individuals recruited from a US domestic violence agency show the combination of communication anxiety, communication competence, perceived emotional support, and perceived informational support accounted for approximately 13% of the variance in advocates' emotional exhaustion and 21% of the variance in advocates' experiences of reduced personal accomplishment. Responses also differ with the advocate's position in the agency. The following recommendations are offered: develop scenario-based communication skills training programs to reduce communication anxiety and increase communication competence, hold regular debriefing meetings to help advocates process their experiences and to receive peer support, and develop formalized mentoring programs that can provide social support for new workers.     

Improving Science and Literacy Learning for English Language Learners: Evidence from a Pre-service Teacher Preparation Intervention

This paper present findings from a pre-service teacher development project that prepared novice teachers to promote English language and literacy development with inquiry-based science through a modified elementary science methods course and professional development for cooperating teachers. To study the project’s impact on student learning, we administered a pre and post assessment to students (N = 191) of nine first year elementary teachers (grades 3 through 6) who experienced the intervention and who taught a common science unit. Preliminary results indicate that (1) student learning improved across all categories (science concepts, writing, and vocabulary)—although the effect varied by category, and (2) English Language Learner (ELL) learning gains were on par with non-ELLs, with differences across proficiency levels for vocabulary gain scores. These results warrant further analyses to understand the extent to which the intervention improved teacher practice and student learning. This study confirms the findings of previous research that the integration of science language and literacy practices can improve ELL achievement in science concepts, writing and vocabulary. In addition, the study indicates that it is possible to begin to link the practices taught in pre-service teacher preparation to novice teacher practice and student learning outcomes.     

What Is the Impact of Computer Literacy on the Academic Performance of D-learning Students？

Due to the globalization and the spread of the Internet, distance learning （D-learning） has gained extraordinary impulse in recent years by classes broadcasted by Websites and assignments fulfilled by students in their own computers. D-learning facilitates the access to education to those people who are working or have low buying power due to its reduced cost and time convenience. Although D-learning has existed in the world for over 150 years, only in the last decades, it has become the focus of academic studies and researches in a systematic way. In this context, the objective of this research is to evaluate the impact of computer literacy on the academic performance of the D-learning students of Faculdade lnterativa COC--EAD （COC--D-learning Interactive College）, P61o Lafaiete （Lafaiete Branch）, Ribeirao Preto. The research consisted of a questionnaire with 21 qualitative dichotomous questions, concerning the level of knowledge and mastery of information techdologies, besides the gender and academic performance （weighted average and marks of the last module）. The data were tabulated, being considered two main variables： （a） academic performance, represented by the marks of the last module; and （b） computer literacy, represented by the sum of the questions concerning this matter. The data were analyzed statistically, and the correlation between the two variables considered was analyzed by Pearson＇s Correlation Test. The interviews of the 54 interviewees （24 males （44.45%） and 30 females （55.55%）） taking the business administration course were analyzed. The correlation coefficient r = 0.303 indicates that there is a meaningful correlation between the students＇ academic performance （marks） and their computer literacy, that is, the greater the computer literacy, the better the marks obtained by these students in the D-learning course. D-learning has computing as its main tool, theretbre, the students with less computer literacy find barriers in D-learning, which o ref